Stein's Issues
by bucktooth22
Summary: Stein is best friends with Spirit once he enters the DWMA; however, he is bullied. He begins cutting and doing experiments on himself which just means he's bullied more. Spirit does nothing because he has a reputation to uphold. Stein goes crazy because he's all alone.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do now own Soul Eater.

Stein sat there quietly, minding his own business. He didn't antagonize them, didn't patronize, talk to or even look at them. They approached anyways.

"Hey guys." The first one said waving over a few of his friends. "Lookey here. We've found ourselves a fag." He said laughing as he saw Stein tense. Now Stein was usually a laid back person. He didn't take offense to things easily but that one word, that made him angry. He hated the word for a few reasons. One, it was offensive. It was used as a hateful slur used against a minority. Picking on people in minorities was cowardice. So as they laughed at him tensing, he smiled. It was something he only did in circumstances like this one. Stein was a kind of child that never laughed or smiled unless it fit his humor. He was a morbid child and, as such, had a morbid sense of humor. So, unbeknownst to the boys now surrounding him, he was smiling at the thought of them dying slowly. He was tensed, ready to fight, and he was silently preparing himself.

"Freak." One of them said.

"Looser." Another said.

"Fag." Someone repeated their leader, too dumb to come up with their own insult. With that, the blows began falling. Stein was smaller than the lot of them but that meant he was faster. Before they even realized, he had slipped out of the circle they had used to surround him. He had the leader's arm twisted behind his back. His fat blubbery face was reddening as his entire arm was twisted painfully. Stein had his hand, twisted down painfully twisting the wrist, and pulled the arm behind the bully's back, hurting his elbow and shoulder. As he pulled up farther he also pushed down harder on his wrist. He yelped as it threatened to dislocate in three places. Stein, not one to only take one prisoner, also had the second in command, conveniently the other one who said fag, in a headlock, arm wrapped tightly around his neck. His fingers had, in need of something to hold, latched onto his ear. The boy's arms flailed and his face was beginning to distort as Stein's nails dug painfully into the back of his ear.

"I suggest you find another form of entertainment." He said to the remaining circle. They dispersed immediately with their two "head honchos" having been bested. Stein then turned to the leader who was craning his neck around to try to scowl at Stein. His glare failed as his face was contorted into more of a pained grimace. "I don't approve of derogatory comments." Stein said smoothly.

"Aw. We upset the fag." He snorted. Stein increased pressure and he began to howl in pain.

"I'll repeat myself only once. I do not approve of derogatory comments. Towards anyone. Any minority or other such people you deem less than yourself. If you use any further demeaning words I will be forced to cause you pain." Stein said calmly. His voice was cool and calm as if he were having a conversation with tea and scones. Realizing his headlock victim was about to pass out he loosened his hold. The boy gulped in air greedily as his face began to slowly return to a more human hue.

"Pain?" He said between gulps of air. "What...do you...call...this?" He asked.

"A warning." Stein said simply as he released the headlock victim. "And seeing as how you do not seem too keen on REAL pain, I expect you to heed my warning." He watched as the boy nodded and scurried off. "And you. What do you have to say?" Stein asked looking at the back of the leader's head. It would be much easier for blackmail purposes if he could remember his name. But alas, someone as insignificant had been removed from Stein's memory.

"Get off me fag." He snarled out. Stein sighed. That was not what he was looking for. He had to admit, he was slightly excited. He found amusement in hurting others. So he smiled once again as he dislocated the boy's arm in three places. He then proceeded to break all five fingers on that hand and then, because he was not happy with it, drove a pen through his palm. As it came out the other side, Stein decided he was finished. He looked at his work and smiled. It was art. He saw beauty and amusement in this, so when the teacher showed up with a horrified expression, he didn't understand. Didn't she see the art in this? Clearly she did not by her frantic high pitched screams. Stein was sent to the principal's office and then to the police. They asked his why he did it.

"I do not approve of people using derogatory slurs. I gave him a fair warning." Stein had said.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do now own Soul Eater.

"Another school?" Dad asked. He was angry. Again. "Expelled again." He snapped.

"More importantly, he attacked and severely harmed another student." The officer said. Stein looked blankly between his father and the officer.

"Oh course he did." Mr. Stein sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Go to your room." He said tiredly. Stein hurried up to his room and sat on the end of his bed to wait for his father. He heard the voices from downstairs. His father talking to the officer. The officer leaving and then daddy dearest calling Mrs. Stein. After a while he came up the stairs to his son's room and sat next to him on the end of the bed. "Why do you do things like this?" He asked sounding sad.

"He deserved it." Franken defended. His father shook his head but ruffled his son's dark brown hair anyway.

"It doesn't matter if they deserve it. You have to stop hurting people." He said. "There's only one school left I can get you into but you'll have to work very hard. No more attacks." He said as he stood, looking at his son's pale skin and big cold eyes.

"Okay father." He said nodding.

"I'm expecting all A's." He added. Stein nodded and his father left to arrange his admittance to the DWMA.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater.

Stein looked around at the big school as he walked nervously through the halls. He was a last minute entry so he would probably have trouble finding a person to work with. He didn't understand why he needed a "buddy" but it was a requirement. He looked around nervously, he'd been told to wait for his partner here. He looked at the paper to check again and it was the right location. "So you're my miser." Said a voice as a boy slipped around the corner.

"Hello." Stein said casually.

"What's your name kid?" He asked. His hair was cherry red and long-ish but he looked about the same age so Stein didn't understand why he was calling him kid.

"Franken Stein." Stein replied. "And yours?" He asked.

"Spirit." He replied. "So they told me you're not all there in the head." Spirit said. Tactless.

"We all have some crazy in us. It just depends on how loud we turn up the volume on it. How loud we let it run." Stein said.

"So you're that kind of crazy." Stein said nodding cryptically. "Well I'm supposed to show you to classes. We have all our classes together. We've been put up in a house so we'll figure out who does the chores later. We'll see about our first training later." Spirit said as he began walking. Stein followed him, his white clothes opposing Spirit's dark attire.

"Training?" He asked.

"Weapon and meister." Spirit said casually. Spirit gaped. Was this that school? The school where people turned into weapons and Death himself was in charge? This was that school? Stein felt a small smile curl his lips as he picked up his pace following Spirit.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater

Stein and Spirit spent an awesome day together they decided Stein would do their homework and Spirit could do the chores around the house. They found that they worked amazingly well together as weapon and miser even though it was Stein's first time. They practiced for hours, perfecting technique and working on strategy. Spirit explained all about the DWMA and when they were done they went to bed.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater

Stein was waiting outside the classroom for Spirit. He saw him approaching and felt his lips twitch in a smile. He looked so cool, so laid back the way he strutted towards him. Flanked by two other boys, he seemed not to care. One had spiky blond hair and a scar down across his left eye. He looked buff but small and was wearing thick baggy clothes. The other boy had long green hair and was wearing fancy maroon clothes. "Who's this looser?" Asked the blond one.

"My meister." Spirit said dismissively as he brushed past and into the classroom leaving Stein confused. The blond and green haired boys paused next to Stein.

"Freak." Hissed the blond one.

"Looser." Said the green haired one dismissively as if Stein wasn't even worth their time. The smaller boy looked between his two aggressors, he was smaller than them but he wondered what their deal was. He looked between the two, blinking until he saw their souls. The blond one had an angry soul, seeming to be in a constant state of rage. The green haired one was more cool, calm collected. He was a small stealthy dagger and the blond boy his miser. Stein focused himself on getting to his seat. Dad said no more violence.

"Running away?" Purred the blond one as he grabbed his shoulder and spun him around before Stein even got through the door to his class. He slammed him against the wall. "Coward." He snarled as he punched the smaller boy in the stomach before lifting him up by the collar of his shirt and then punching him in the eye. He dropped Stein on the floor and went into class. Stein shook his head but that only made him dizzy. Why was this happening?


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater.

Stein got back to their house and went to the kitchen to get some ice for his black eye. When that was done he went to his room to start their homework. He heard Spirit get home and then come into the room. "Hey. We gunna go practice?" Spirit asked.

"You let them hit me." Stein said. Spirit shrugged.

"Here, we can be friends. There, you're weird. I've got appearances to keep up kid." Spirit said as if it were obvious. Stein nodded. He understood what was expected of him. Let them hit you. Let him ignore you. Let them make fun of you. Say nothing. Do the homework.

"Not today. We have a lot of homework to do." Stein said.

"Well I'm going out then. Don't wait up. And can you do the chores?" He asked before slipping out of them room without another word, leaving no chance for Stein to refuse. Stein sighed and went about finishing his homework. Now he had to do the chores too.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater

When he finished his work and the chores he went back to his room. No dinner. He wasn't hungry. The homework was done. The house was spotless. What was he supposed to do? He looked to his desk and got out the pair of scissors. If he wanted to be a strong miser he had to be strong. He had to be used to pain. He dug the edge into his thigh and dragged the blade down leaving a big gash. The blood welled up and he thought p he probably should have gotten something to clean it with. A napkin or a towel maybe. He shook his head. He should have thought of that. He looked around for something to use and ended up deciding his box of tissues would have to work. He grabbed a few and tried as best he could to dab the cut on his leg. When it wasn't bloody anymore he went to the med-kit in the bathroom and began sewing up his leg. He cleaned up, leaving no evidence of his 'attack.'


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater

It had been a month now. Stein had only cut his legs, and had taken on full responsibility for the chores and homework and for making meals. He practiced techniques without Spirit and even worked on something he could use for when Spirit wasn't with him. He took on missions and completed them without Spirit, then left the souls in the kitchen for when Spirit got home.

He started wearing pants and long sleeves when he moved lower on his legs and tried to slit his wrists and upper arms. When he did take Spirit with him on missions he was like a monster, cutting his victims with Spirit until his white, hand stitched clothes were stained with blood (he had to stitch his clothes by hand to practice his sewing skills). When he was home alone in the quiet dark of his house one night he decided to move up his body and cut his hip. He sewed himself up but one day while he was fighting the creature cut open his shirt. Spirit noticed the scars and brought them up when he was done eating. Stein shrugged but Spirit insisted he go to the school nurse. Stein went to the nurse and she saw all the cuts, all the stitches. She asked him and he told her he wanted to be strong, he had to be ready for fights. She said nothing but looked disappointed. Stein went home.

"The nurse said you're a cutter." Spirit said awkwardly from where he was sitting. Stein shrugged.

"Do you want dinner?" He asked.

"She said you haven't been eating enough." Spirit added.

"I haven't been hungry." Stein shrugged casually as he went about making food for Spirit.

"Eat. Stop cutting yourself." Spirit said. Stein nodded in silence. There was a long silence until they started eating. "So you leave souls for me. How do you collect them without me?" He asked. Stein had been leaving one a night for Spirit except nights they went on missions together.

"My soul wavelength." Stein said dismissively.

"Why do you cut yourself?" Spirit asked switching topic to something he had a hope to understand.

"I wanted to see what was inside. It was an experiment." Stein said smiling.

"No." Spirit said shaking his head in rejection of the very idea. He left his dirty plate on the table and went to his room. Stein did the dishes and then went the bathroom. He looked at the mirror and smiled a twisted smile as he slipped out his scalpel. He wondered if he could cut his face in half or if he would die of blood loss first. He felt the smile twist his lips as he began from the top right of his face and then went over his nose and under his eyes to his ear. He laughed as the blood began covering his face. Was this what madness felt like? He wondered if he was insane.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater.

Stein smirked as he stood over Spirit with his scalpel. The red head woke with a start, falling out of bed in the process. "Stein!" He gasped.

"Still not used to the hair?" Stein asked. He'd stopped cutting but not his experiments on himself. He'd managed to change his hair color with a mixture he'd been working on to cure the common cold. It was safe to say he was still working on that one. Spirit shook his head.

"Not that." He said, voice wavering.

"Then what?" Stein asked as he pushed his glasses up on his nose, allowing them to catch the lamp light. He'd needed them after he experimented with a flash bomb.

"Oh ya know...waking up to you standing over me with a knife." Spirit said.

"I'm surprised you haven't noticed. I do experiments on you while you sleep all the time." Stein said casually as he left the room. He hadn't always treated Spirit like this. He hadn't always been like this. Uncaring, yes, always, but sadistic, no. Well kinda. Okay yeah that too, and he'd done experiments before. But he'd never actually done anything to Spirit...yet. He just liked to see his reaction. One day he was planning what he would do to his weapon. Turn his insides out, his skin to sandpaper, his eyes to raisins. He'd put toes in different places to see how long it took the idiot to realize. He'd cut open some part of him to test his latest experiment or just to see something or another.

As they sat down for breakfast Spirit looked quizzically at Stein. "Why are you like this?" He asked in a rare moment of honest curiosity and nothing more.

"I am a scientist. Everything is...science. I just like to see how it works." Stein shrugged.

"But like this?" Spirit said as he motioned to Stein who just looked confused. "Psychotic?"

"It was manageable until i came to the DWMA. Now that i work with kishin, i have a closer link to the madness. Now that I'm all alone, there is no one to stop me." Stein said.

"Me?" Spirit offered.

"You?" Stein laughed. Spirit looked miffed at that. "You, the one who makes me do all our collective homework, the one who makes me do all the chores around the house. Make the food while you're out with friends. You, my weapon who allows me to go into battles alone half the time and the other half allows me to get beaten up at school." Stein shook his head. "You do more harm than good."


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater

Spirit and Stein were hunting their witch. It was the most important fight of their lives and they were going all out. She was putting up a big fight. When she started using something magical that could hurt Spirit in his weapon form he turned back into a human, and allowed Stein to have his chest slashed open by the witch. She disappeared, leaving Stein on the ground, gash in his chest, bleeding out quickly and Spirit who was too stunned to do anything. The witch, deciding Stein was no longer a threat, went after Spirit but just as she was about to engage him there was Stein, standing lopsided in the way, using his soul wavelength. She screamed as she frantically cast spells. She hit Stein over and over again but he didn't stop. She flew off screaming, not defeated but deterred.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: i do not own Soul Eater

Stein was in the hospital for a week recovering from the witch's brutal attack. During that time Spirit didn't visit him once. By the time he'd gotten out Spirit had requested a new partner and been assigned a blond girl. Stein was left without a weapon so he went home. To his now Spirit vacant house. It was a chaotic mess. He cleaned and fixed everything up so it was spotless before going to see Death.

"Hello." Stein said awkwardly.

"Hiya Stein." Death said excitably. "What brings you to my neighborhood?"

"I seem to be in need of a new weapon." Stein said.

"Well see, here's the thing: a weapon and a meister have to choose each other. I can't assign that until you're graduated and then you would get one of my personal weapons." Death said.

"So what do i do?" Stein asked.

"Keep up your grades. Since you gathered over 99 kishin souls I'll let you graduate. Maybe you can practice without a weapon." Death said shrugging.

"He abandoned me." Stein said as his hands balled into fists at his sides. "He let the witch get to me."

"I know." Death said. "But you still sent her running."

"I still protected him." Stein said grimly.

"Yes. And that's why i am allowing you to graduate. Any meister who risks their life for their weapon gets a pass from me." Death said. "But in my mind it should be the other way around..." He said thoughtfully.

"Is there a way i can stop being so...insane?" Stein asked.

"What do you mean?" Death questioned.

"A lobotomy of some sort?" Stein offered. Death looked uncomfortable.

"I suppose there is one thing but it's not exactly been tested. It's like a lobotomy only...completely different." Death said. "They but a big screw in your head. It's not been tested yet." Death said.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater

Stein woke up groggily, hid head felt heavy. He put his hand up to the big screw that had been implanted in his head as per his request. He turned it and it felt nice. It felt like the world was changing around him. He kept turning it, it felt...right. He felt a small smile curl his lips as the insanity took over and subsided at the same time. It was his choice which one to give in to. He looked around, his vision was blurry but when he slipped on his glasses everything came into focus. A lab covered in stitches. Everything had stitches. From wounds to come and ones that had healed. Their souls looked...small. Stein smiled as he reflected that this screw, the cool metal under his hand, had helped to make his soul more powerful. Maybe not his soul...maybe it improved his control of it. He shook these thoughts from his head as he felt the insanity creep in. A kishin was near. He smiled sadistically as the red soul flickered like a fire begging to be put out. His bolt seemed to be getting harder to crank but it still felt...right somehow. He slipped out of bed and moved stealthily to the kishin. Click. Splash. Blood splattered the stitched walls and the stitched face. Stein wondered what would happen if he stitched the kishin's body back together... Everything looked better in stitches.


End file.
